


Losing A Friend

by Lost_Elf



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fear, Injury, Uncertainty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29012520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_Elf/pseuds/Lost_Elf
Summary: Rhys seeks Jack's support when something terrible goes down at Vaughn's workplace, and they both wait in uncertainty to learn whether Rhys' best friend survived against all odds.
Relationships: Handsome Jack/Rhys (Borderlands), Rhys & Vaughn (Borderlands)
Kudos: 24





	Losing A Friend

“Jack! Jack, oh God!” the Head of Programming stormed into the CEO’s office, not caring about the stuttering secretary that tried to stop him, or the meeting that was currently in progress. The executive that was just being boring the Hyperion CEO to death wisely took a step aside, well-aware of Rhys Strongfork’s status as the President’s fiancé and not wanting to stand between those two men in any sense.

Even the CEO was suddenly sharp, sensing that something was not right. He was ready to get rid of the executive at once, gun in hand, but the man was already running out of the office, papers flying all around him as he escaped through the half-open door mere milliseconds before the secretary closed them, giving the pair privacy.

“Pumpkin?” Jack addressed the younger man, putting his gun away when he saw that it was not needed. He gave Rhys a long look, trying to find the source of his distress.

Rhys was _hysterical_ , and that was a reason for fear. Jack had never seen his boyfriend like that in the two years they have been together. Rhys was great at putting on a stone face, not letting anyone know what he thought about them until they found themselves demoted to Data mining or even janitorial, or suddenly promoted for their good work. Even outside of his own office, he was mostly professional, save for some instances of mid-day booty calls that they both agreed were great for their workspace morale.

Seeing this well-composed man falling apart at work meant that something terrible must have happened.

“ _Jack_ ,” Rhys repeated when he neared his desk, voice imploring, and the CEO rose from his chair, opening his arms and welcoming the younger man in them.

“Shh,” the older man hummed, wrapping his arms around his future husband. “What happened, Rhysie?” he asked gently, hoping for something minor. An urgent notification pinged on his wristwatch, but he ignored it.

“Th-there,” Rhys stuttered in straining voice, pushing back sobs, “there was an-an explosion in the Accounting department.”

More urgent notifications came, and uneasy understanding settled in the CEO’s chest. He hugged his fiancé tighter, resting his cheek against the top of his head, hiding him away from the world in his embrace.

“O-on Vaughn’s floor,” Rhys added, sounding surprisingly composed for a second. “I-it got, it got— The hull was damaged, and everyone was— They were all spaced—”

Rhys burst out crying then, really crying with sobs and trembling. Jack held him as best as he could, as if his hug could stop him from falling apart. He wasn’t sure what to do or say, knowing well that no words could soothe the pain of losing someone as close as a best friend.

“Shh, Rhysie,” he soothed in a low voice, feeling himself stuck, not only lost as what to do, but also unable to move and do anything at all. He wanted to help, but there was very little that would help if his boyfriend’s best friend was hit by the explosion or swallowed by the outcome. _If._

“Rhys, baby, look at me,” he implored gently, pulling at the younger man’s shoulders until their eyes met. Rhys’ human eye was red and swollen, the cybernetic eye activated as he almost religiously read over the incident reports over and over again.

“Nothing’s lost yet,” the CEO reminded, finally reading his notifications. “Vaughn wasn’t confirmed dead yet, right? Maybe they’ll find him; maybe he wasn’t there at all.”

He knew that the chances were very small, and the comfort was temporary, but Rhys needed to snap out of his premature grief and help put the fire out. If not for his friend, then for the rest of the department, because as much as Jack liked threatening to space them all, Hyperion couldn’t really afford to lose all of its accountants.

It took several deep breaths and one more hug, but Rhys got his shit together and dried his eyes off before wordlessly jacking himself up to the executive override in Jack’s chair, easily getting access to all of Helios. The action was automatic, and he had done it many times before when the space station needed interference of an intelligence greater than a regular computer. Since Angel wasn’t helping out anymore, recovering in Opportunity, Rhys took her place in situations like this.

Carefully, Jack pushed Rhys’ almost unresponsive body in the direction of the chair, not trusting him not to faint. The connection to the network was a lot to handle on good days. He didn’t want his fiancé to hurt himself.

Walking around the chair, Jack got to work on his computer, quickly assessing the situation. Most fires were put out immediately by the lack of air in the damaged parts and the rest was taken care of. He could see in real time commands coming seemingly from no source for doors to be sealed, airlocks to be opened and closed, as Rhys took care of the remaining literal fires before moving onto commanding the construction bots to repair the hull.

Security alerted Jack that the culprit has been identified and died in the explosion, their contacts, friends, colleagues and family up to the tenth cousin being questioned. For once, everybody seemed to be doing their job well, and the damages were being undone.

There was no help for the hundreds of dead bodies, though. Jack sent a bunch of surveyors into the space to scan, search and identify the dead that couldn’t be collected at the moment and update their employee status. Their families would get the standard check and a condolences card.

As soon as the bots arrived and began their work, Jack noticed Rhys accessing those files, looking at the names and pictures. He, too, opened the list on one of his computer screens, scanning it mindlessly. There was no work left to do for him, but it was hard to bring his eyes to the rapidly growing list, fearing what he might learn.

Jack didn’t like his fiancé’s friends much, but he didn’t like people in general. He _tolerated_ the two and could even hold a meaningful conversation with them whenever they visited Rhys at the penthouse. He also enjoyed the stupid board game that they played, that he sometimes took a part in. He supposed that he would miss those games a lot, actually.

After a few minutes, Rhys disconnected himself from the interface, resting for a couple seconds until the nausea passed and then standing silently behind Jack, scanning the list with his eyes. Without a word, Jack wrapped his arms around him, holding him close as they waited and waited.

Minutes slowly bled together, and the names added to the list were less and less. The two men hugged, paced the office, stood by the window and bathed in the captivating purple light of Elpis, sat around and stood around some more, and waited. The tears in Rhys’ eyes have dried up and the purple circles underneath them grew deeper.

When it took almost a full minute for a new name to be added, a new body to be identified, Jack grabbed his fiancé’s shoulder gently, cupping his cheek with his other hand. “You should go home,” he said, massaging his shoulder soothingly. “Maybe call Yvette, wait together for the news…”

Rhys nodded, sighing. He ran his hand through his hair, messing up the already ruined hairstyle. He collected his blazer that he discarded on the chair some time ago and put it on, vainly trying to make himself look presentable. Jack helped him by smoothing out his hair and fixing his tie, leaving it loosened up stylishly.

“You know,” the younger man said as he repaid the favour, busying himself with smoothing out the older man’s many layers. “I think this was the first time you called them both by their names.” A crooked smirk appeared on his lips, not reaching his eyes and leaving them dull, making his whole expression look painfully forced.

Jack frowned, trying to read into his partner’s expression or body language. He suddenly didn’t feel like leaving Rhys. He thought, at first, that letting his other friend help him deal with this would be a better idea, as they both knew Vaugh well. But maybe Rhys just needed him.

“Gimme a sec, I’ll catch up with ya when I’m done with the instructions for Security, okay?” he said, watching the younger man’s face carefully for his reaction.

“I thought you were…” Rhys began but trailed off, shaking his head. “I’ll wait outside,” he said instead.

Jack didn’t really have much more to do, just wanted to check on the situation. Finding the culprit’s partners in crime would really help him right now to work through some emotions through blood and violence.

A blinking notification was obscuring the whole screen when he looked at the computer, and Jack was puzzled for a second and then… _incredibly relieved_. He didn’t even think he would be feeling this strongly about the matter, but the force of the weight being lifted off his chest left him feeling lightheaded, almost giddy.

“Rhys,” he called out, looking up from the computer screens with a small smile. The younger man was just at the door when he turned to him. The frown on his face quickly morphed into hope and desperation when he saw Jack’ expression, and he waited for the words that would confirm that it was true.

“He is alive. He was among the survivors and is now in med bay.”

Rhys’ long legs had more than one use. Jack had trouble keeping up with him as they jogged all the way to the medical wing. Jack’s physique was generally better than Rhys’, who never had to fight in his life, but he arrived at the hospital room a whole minute after him.

He found the two friends hugging on the bed, Rhys wrapped around the much shorter man in a way that was probably suffocating, sobbing loudly into his white shirt. Their female friend stood nearby, covering her mouth with her hand and muffling her own sounds of relief.

Jack remained in the doorway, watching, while the friends assured each other that everything was alright. Rhys mumbled meaningless threats that Vaughn was never to do that to him again, or else, or else… And Vaughn answered with serious promises that he would never leave Rhys like that. Yvette told them that they were both sentimental idiots and then hugged them both, the hospital cot creaking under the weight of three adult people.

When the nurse came to inform them that the patient needs to be left alone and rest to recover from his injuries (minor head trauma and some burns), Rhys gave Vaughn one last hug and walked up to Jack, giving him a very exhausted but honest smile.

“Thank you,” he said, his eyes conveying the true meaning of those words. _Thank you that you’ve been here for me, thank you that you handled me at my worst, thank you for having my back when I needed it, thank you for being._

“Anytime, Cupcake,” Jack replied, leaning down to plant a chaste kiss on his fiancé’s lips. “Shall we go home?” he asked, offering him a hand.

“That sounds great. I need two large coffees and three years of sleep after today,” Rhys muttered, taking the hand and intertwining their fingers as they headed to the nearest elevator bank.

“Well, it’s only 11 AM, so you might get some with your lunch order.”

“Only 11—?! Ugh, okay, find some place that does sleep take out and order me five years.”

“Triple black coffee, extra strong, got it. Eight sugars?”

“You’re the best, I love you.”

“I know, I love me too.”

“Oh, shut up you…”

**Author's Note:**

> Working through stuff through writing is extremely therapeutic.
> 
> You can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ElfWriting) and [Tumblr](https://lostelfwriting.tumblr.com/).


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